OT: Bama fan poisons trees at Auburn

So this is a horrible story and its on ESPN main page but I thought it might be a good thing to share and talk about. A radio station gets a caller from a guy claiming he poisoned the trees at Auburn's Toomer's Corner, and yells "Roll damn Tide" and hangs up.

Sure enough, they tested the soil and the area is contaminated with a herbicide that will undoubtedly kill the trees. Best part? The article also says that it will likely spread throughout the area and could be prevalent in the soil for 3-5 years. And the trees are said to be of an average age of 130 years old. What a shame!

I'm all for rivalries, but destroying a tradition of another school is out of this world. This is on a grandiose scale I've never heard of. It would be like cutting the head off Sparty, but that pales in comparison to destroying life. Could you imagine someone poisoning all the trees in the Quad? I'd be livid.

Comments

We wouldn't necessarily need to retaliate. Enough students at a certain school about an hour and some change northwest of Ann Arbor pee in the Grand River that the water and the banks are devoid of substantial life......

That's true, but I'd argue that there's a higher concentration of stupid people in the South. I've lived in the Midwest, the West, the East Coast, and the South, and based on my experience, I'd give the award of "most stupid people per capita" to the South.

one of the best things about college sports (and college football in particular) is all of the tradition and all the notable land marks. M club banner, auburns trees, georgias hedges, etc. destroying them is just stupid. sure it'd be hilarious to paint a winged helmet on the sparty statue but why ruin the whole fun of everything by destroying it?

I mean, just wow. What a terrible thing. The only way this turns out OK is if Alabama and Auburn get together and find a way to save the trees. I really hope there are no similar failures at humanity who are "inspired" to similar acts elsewhere.

Very true, Alabama should volunteer their staff or funding or something. I realize it isn't their responsibility, but if they do literally nothing (and it seems they haven't even released a statement yet) they look like they condone this.

Call me a tree-hugging hippy, but that sort of disrespect for a living thing is abominable. I understand and even endorse getting rid of trees when they're in the way of progress. But killing a living thing because of a perverted sense of rivalry is disgusting.

Sadly, we can't even say this is just a "southern" thing, as other posters have. About a century ago, before the Harvard-Yale game, Harvard's coach tried to motivate his team by strangling a bulldog in the locker room.

Pretty sure that's just a story that never actually happened. Besides, you're not equating trees to dogs, are you? I think the perpetrator oughta be exiled to Mongolia myself (not many trees there), but still.

I got a little carried away. And thank God that story's not real. It really bothered me when I first heard about it. I'm still depressed for humanity that this jackass exists in Alabama. He belongs in the West Texas moonscape.

Thanks for picking up on this as well. A coach choking a dog out is not the same as some dumb ass fan killing a tree. Sorry, I can't make that leap with you. If the find the guy they should give him a 1,000 paper cuts.